


Out of the Shadows

by Sundayraven



Series: So Shall We [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Modern Era, OCs only - Freeform, Other, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:40:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22274203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sundayraven/pseuds/Sundayraven
Summary: Five young witches and wizards decide to turn the world on its head by revealing themselves, not as magic users, but as superheroes. They plan for the backlash from both the wizarding and muggle worlds, but they don't plan for a powerful dark wizard to follow in their footsteps.After all, what is a superhero without a villain worth fighting against?
Series: So Shall We [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603339
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story with no canon characters. It takes place in modern-era USA, and there will be few, if any, references to JK Rowling's characters. All characters are OCs.
> 
> This story may get dark, but there will be no graphic sex. If you've read Worm, by Wildbow, you'll have a good idea for the sort of tone I'll be aiming for. Consider this an AU; while I'll follow the canon rules of magic where possible, by necessity I will occasionally make stuff up. This is an original story set in JK Rowling's Harry Potter universe, and while I own the plot, I do not own the setting.
> 
> \---
> 
> "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you." - Watership Down

Her cloak snapped in the wind, rippling out behind her. It was lighter weight than her wizard’s robes, and navy blue instead of black, but she liked it. It felt right, like she had been meant to wear it.

The skin tight maroon bodysuit had taken more getting used to, unlike her white boots and matching belt, both of which were dragonhide. After spending seven years wearing the heavy robes the wizarding community was so in love with, it felt odd to be so exposed. But that was what this was all about. Exposing magic to the public. Becoming public figures, so visible that the wizarding world wouldn’t risk making them vanish. Breaking every rule that had been drilled into them at Ilvermony, and risking prison – or worse.

Because that was what heroes did.

“How does it look?”

Sam bit his lip as he looked her over. She tried not to squirm. With a sigh, he let the wind charm drop.

“The costume looks okay. You’ve finished charming it?”

She nodded. “It’s resistant to cutting and bullets. Not completely impervious – the charms don’t stick well on such flexible material – but I won’t die if I get shot. Probably. I haven’t tested it. It’s resistant to minor jinxes and hexes too, and waterproof, of course.”

“That’s good. It looks good. It just… needs more.”

“Yeah.” She sat down on the basement couch with a sigh. “I’ve been trying to think of what to add to it. Mark is bringing the masks tomorrow, but it still feels really plain.”

“You need an emblem or something. You could do a modified triskelion—”

“No.” She winced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound so short, but we already talked about this, Sam. I know we’re on the same team and everything, but I want my own identity. I don’t want to be… to be the Morgana to your Merlin.”

He chuckled. “Good, because everyone would think you were supposed to be a villain.” He raised a hand as she started to talk. “Sorry, Emily. I know what you’re saying. You’ll figure it out. The emblem will be easy once you decide on your name.”

“Yeah.” She kicked at a pillow that had fallen to the floor. “I knew that figuring all of this out would take a while, but I never thought that coming up with a name would be the hardest part.”

He snorted, then turned to begin pulling his own costume out of his bag. Raising an eyebrow at her, he gestured at it, and she turned away, feeling her cheeks heat up. Why he couldn’t just go change in the bathroom instead – 

“You’re only having such a tough time because you’re actually being creative with it. I mean, Merlin? I wasn’t exactly digging deep for that one.”

“It fits though,” she said, staring at the wall.

“Hopefully people will never know just how well. I’m done.”

She turned around and couldn’t help but smile at what she saw. Where her costume was plain, Sam’s looked like it could have been in a movie. His suit was a pure, snow white – and would stay that way, thanks to magic – with bloodred boots and a matching belt. On his chest was a triskelion of the same color. His cloak was shorter than hers, but it was cobalt blue and edged with white. Where her costume was muted, to make it easier for her to fade from view when she was trying to avoid notice, his was flashy and meant to be seen. That was how they always were, her in the background and him front and center. She liked to pretend that she didn’t mind it.

“It looks good,” she said. “Really good.”

“Wait until you see Mark’s,” he said with a grin. He reached up and unclasped his cloak, then pulled his jeans and t-shirt on over his costume, only leaving the white sleeves on his arms visible. The cloak was folded up and put into his pocket – acromantula silk was expensive, but it had been worth it for that alone. “Shall we go test the wands?”

She nodded, feeling a thrill of nerves. Their wands had been their biggest stumbling block. They couldn’t have muggles reporting that the superheros who had saved them had been carrying sticks that shot bright colors. That would tip off MACUSA in no time.

They had settled on simple muggle repelling charms, but the magic inherent in their wands had caused the charms to decay at an alarming rate, and you needed another witch or wizard to cast it for you. A small rune carved into the handle of each of their wands had been the solution. It had felt wrong, carving something into her wand, even if it was just the spare she had picked up from a used wand shop, but if it worked as intended, they would be able to activate the runes with a simple burst of wandless magic, and then muggles wouldn’t be able to focus on their wands.

She pulled her clothes on over her own uniform, shoved her cloak into her purse, and slipped her wand into its arm holster. Sam nodded at her and, taking a deep breath, she followed him out of the house.

Carving a rune into her wand had felt wrong, but walking around her neighborhood with her wand in her hand felt plain blasphemous. The first person they came across was old Mr. Smith, and while he didn’t mention the sticks in their hands, that didn’t mean much because everyone knew he was only a hairsbreadth away from being legally blind. Thankfully, Mrs. Cochin and her kids were in their yard. Emily followed when Sam went over to talk to them.

“Hi, Sam. Hey, Emily. How are you two doing?” Mrs. Cochin asked, standing up and placing her youngest, a little three year old girl named Susan, on the ground near her lawnchair. Her older two, ten and eleven year old Sally and Ollie, came over. Emily had babysat them a few times over the years, and knew them well. She gripped her want nervously.

“We’re doing well,” Sam said. He paused, and Emily looked around, trying to figure out if any of them had noticed their wands. Sam seemed to have the same idea, because he used his wand to gesture with his next words. “It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”

“It sure is,” Mrs. Cochin said. “It’s a shame summer’s almost over. I could use more days like this.”

“Me too,” Sam said. Then he did something that shocked Emily to her core. He dropped his wand, right in front of the woman.

No one so much as glanced at it. Expirimentally, Emily began twirling her own wand in her fingers, then waved it around, trying to draw as much attention to it as possible. She felt a wash of relief when none of their eyes tracked it. No one seemed able to see their wands. Except --

“Susan,” Emily snapped. Jumping, Sam looked down to where the young girl was reaching for the wand in the grass. He stooped and picked it up before she could grab it, and she immediately started crying. Emily exchanged a look with him, then bent down to pick up the little girl, who promptly began to grab for her own wand.

“Want the stick!”

“What stick, sweetie?” Mrs. Cochin asked. “There aren’t any sticks here, Susy. Maybe in the back yard, under the tree. We can go look if you want. Do you want to play swords with Ollie again?”

Emily handed her over, then she and Sam said quick goodbyes. They walked quickly down the block, making sure they were a few houses away before speaking.

“Well,” Sam said. “I guess it works.”

“On everyone but Susan.”

“Do you think she’s magical?” he asked.

Emily nodded. “Either that, or a squib, I guess. Can squibs even be born to muggles? I don’t see how anyone would know.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, wow. I guess I’ll have to remember to go over there in eight years and see if she got a letter.”

Sam grinned, but then the expression slipped off his face. “We didn’t think of this. How many squibs and muggleborn children do you think we’ll run into? They could blow our cover.”

“We still don’t know if it works for cameras and video cameras,” she pointed out. “We’ll figure it out. And it's not like the wizards aren't going to figure it out as soon as we go public. We're just trying to keep the muggles from realizing we use wands." She took a deep breath. "We’ve gotten so far. We’re not going to give up now.”

“You’re right,” he said. His hand twitched, as if he was about to grab hers, then fell back to his side. “One more month.”

“One more month,” she said. “Then the world will meet its heroes.”


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone can accurately guess where the series title (So Shall We) comes from, I'll let them suggest a hero or villain name for a future character! The only quote I'll give is that it's part of a quote from a book.

“This is it,” Sam said, pausing to look at each of them in turn. “There’s no going back after this. If any of you want to change your minds, this is your only chance. After this, we’re going to be on every news station in the world. The Aurors will be trying to track us down, and if they catch us, even one of us, we’re going to be in prison for the rest of our lives.”

“Or executed,” Mark chimed in, sounding all too gleeful. His tone didn’t match his suit, which was white and powder blue, with silver pauldrons, helmet, and boots that had been charmed featherlight. He looked like a futuristic knight, which Emily supposed wasn’t that inaccurate. 

He sounded like an eighteen year old boy who was jumped up on caffeine, which also wasn’t inaccurate.

“Yes, Mark. Or executed.” Sam took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. The mask that hid his eyes didn’t cover the rest of his face enough to hide the lines of tension in it. “What I’m saying is, we’re never going to be able to undo this. This is our last chance, and I don’t want anyone to regret it. No hard feelings if anyone’s got cold feet.”

Emily’s eyes fell on Shay, who was wearing a suit that was shades of grey with a veil pulled over her face. She looked more like a ghost than a hero, but they had each designed their own costumes and Emily knew nothing good would come of it if she mentioned something. Shay could be unbelievably stubborn. 

She was also the one who had been the most hesitant about all of this. Emily was certain that the only reason she was involved was because Mark was doing it, but when she had brought it up to Sam he’d just told her they all had their own reasons, and he wasn’t about to kick anyone off the team.

Shay turned her face toward Emily, and Emily couldn’t tell if she was meeting her eyes or not.

“Anyone?” Sam asked.

Emily glanced at the last member of their team, Erik, who had always been sort of the odd man out. He had known Sam when they were kids, before either of them had known about magic, but there had been a falling out that neither of them would talk about. Eric had started hanging around with them about halfway through their time at Ilvermony, and while he had always been nice enough, Emily had never clicked with him the way she had with the others.

He stood stoically, meeting Sam’s eyes without wavering. His own were stormy blue, his costume matched them in color almost exactly.

“None of us are backing out, Sam. We’re in. We’ve been in since we first started talking about it in fifth year. We’re ready.”

Sam nodded once, jerkily, and Emily suddenly realized that he was nervous. The realization made her own stomach swoop. Sam was never nervous. He hadn’t been nervous on their first day at Ilvermony, when he'd come to sit beside her, a complete stranger, with a smile on his face and an offering of friendship on his lips. He hadn’t been nervous the day he’d asked her out, or the day he had broken up with her. He hadn’t been nervous the day they had all taken the oath and set themselves down this path.

But he was nervous now.

“We can do this,” she said, surprising herself. “We’ve planned it all out to the minute. They aren’t expecting us, they don’t know what we know. They don’t know how much we’ve orchestrated. It will work.”  
This had been the hardest part of the plan; finding a suitably public way to make their first move. They had to be on national – no, international – TV if they were going to have a chance of making this work. They had to become the most talked about and visible piece of news overnight. Emily had reservations that their plans wasn’t exactly… ethical, but she knew that in the long run they would do more good than harm. As long as no one got hurt tonight, it would all be worth it. 

The press conference was in full swing by the time their portkey landed in DC. They had less than an hour to get into position, and even though Emily knew that any one of them could just apparate in there in an instant, her stomach was in knots. If they messed this up, if the senator got killed because they let things go too far, she would never forgive herself. She took a deep breath, and Sam sent her a reassuring smile. 

“Positions, everyone. We’ve got a schedule to follow.”

They disillusioned themselves and began the short walk toward the building where the press conference was being held. The senator was giving his speech last, and they knew that the assassination attempt wouldn’t come until halfway through it. Still, they needed to be in position and ready well before then, in case anything went wrong. 

Emily brushed her fingers against the small bottle of Essence of Dittany on her belt and hoped desperately that she wouldn’t need to use it. They all carried one, among a handful of other useful potions, and she knew that they were as prepared as it was possible to get.

Her position was directly behind the leader of the domestic terrorist group who had planned the assassination attempt on the young senator. He was there to observe, and planned on slipping out after the shooter had done his part. She would prevent that. 

She recognized the man easily; she had worn the skin of one of his subordinates just two days ago when they checked to make sure the plans hadn’t changed. It had felt almost unfair, walking into that warehouse after downing Polyjuice. She’d had to remind herself that these might just be muggles, but they were very bad muggles. Fair didn’t come into play when there were lives to save.

Of course, that wasn’t their only goal here. If it was, they could have just reported the organization to someone -- or stepped back and done nothing when one of the guards got cold feet and called in a warning himself. Instead they’d had to send Erik in to interfere with a memory charm to guarantee that the very crime that they were there to stop actually happened in the first place.

“Please welcome Senator Brighton,” a young assistant said from onstage. “Questions will be welcomed after his speech.”

The crowd of reporters fell silent, all of the cameras pointed at the stage where one of the youngest and most influential senators in recent history was about to make waves. He had a platform based on change, and Emily liked to think that he’d approve of the change that they were about to introduce to the world.

There was clapping when he appeared, and even from this distance, she could see that he was handsome. He had a bright, open face, and wore a friendly smile as he waved at the crowd – or the cameras, Emily wasn’t sure which. She felt a sudden pinch of terror. They should have stopped this sooner. They could have chosen another way to gain the publicity that they needed. They shouldn’t have put a man’s life at stake.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said into the microphone. “I’m sure you’re all eager for me to begin, but before—”

A gunshot rang out, deafening in the closed chamber. Emily couldn’t help the scream that burst out of her. Her mind was racing. It was too soon, he wasn’t supposed to take the shot yet, oh God, the senator --

But Sam was there, standing in front of the senator with his wand raised, a translucent shield forming a shining barrier in front of him. There was a ping as the bullet ricocheted off of it and hit something metal. She winced. They hadn’t thought of that. It could have hit a person.

The silence in the room was complete. Emily knew that the image would forever be burned into her mind. Sam standing in front of the senator with his wand raised like a sword, a wand that the muggles in the room would fail to notice. His cloak billowed slightly behind him in a wind that shouldn’t exist, and the hand that wasn’t holding the wand was on his hip. He stood like a statue, giving all the world a good look at him as the live cameras showed the world their first superhero.

Then another shot rang out and people began screaming again.


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

She drew her wand and in the same instant shot a muttered stupefy at the man she was shadowing. He had already turned toward the exit, but the movement was aborted and he dropped like a sack of rocks when the spell hit him. 

Only a handful of people noticed the flash of red in the chaos, but they were enough. The sharp screams alerted her to the fingers pointing in her direction, and she removed the disillusionment charm on herself, letting the crowd see her for the first time. More gasps and screams pierced the chamber. Some distant part of her mind noted that the gunshots had stopped. Good, the others had taken care of the shooter.

She stood tall, determined not to show even a flicker of the bare terror that was rushing through her veins. Her hair, normally blonde, had been colored brown with a potion just hours before, and she would have to trust that, combined with the thin dark blue mask that fit like a second skin across her eyes and brows, would be enough to disguise her identity. This national conference would soon make international news, and she had no doubts that her family would see it at some point.

“Please, make your way calmly toward the exits,” she intoned, aiding her voice with a silent sonorous charm.

The chaos in the room seemed to quiet for a moment, then came back full force as the crowd began surging toward the room’s two exits. People began to mill in clumps in front of the doors, and Emily realized with a jolt of worry that panic was spreading quickly when people found themselves trapped in the press of bodies all scrambling to be the first through the doors.

They hadn’t planned on this, on the feral fear a panicked mob mentality would bring. Someone ran by not two feet in front of Emily and tripped over the terrorist’s stunned form, crashing to the floor. Another person rushed past behind her, his shoulder clipping her so that she stumbled. More and more people, those who had been closest to the stage, began to press in around her as they scrambled for the doors at the back of the room. The man she had stupefied was in serious danger of being trampled and she levitated his body with a flick of her wand. This caused even more panic, but thankfully it cleared a small space around her and the floating body.

“Calm down!” she shouted, and winced when her amplified voice boomed out louder than she had expected.

Emily turned to look at the stage, but Sam was busy dealing with the senator and the armed guards who – if the floating weapons just above their heads were any clue – had recently been magically disarmed. Shay was nowhere to be seen, and Erik was floating a man Emily guessed was the shooter toward the stage. Mark was crouching next to a woman near the front who was bleeding from an injury on one of her legs.

People were getting hurt, and more would get hurt if she couldn’t stop this.

Frantically trying to think of a way to get through to the crowd, Emily waved her wand, casting a spell that most pureblood children could cast before they even started school. It let out a loud whoop, a sound that was close enough to the sound of a muggle ambulance’s siren that it got people’s attention.

Speaking carefully, aware that her sonorous was still active, she began to direct them. “Step back from the doors. Whoever’s closest to them, prop them open. Begin leaving two at a time, or people are going to get hurt.”

She saw the fear on their faces and realized too late that her words might be taken as a threat rather than as a warning, but at least it seemed to work. With constrained panic, the crowd began to slowly file out. The last to leave was the injured woman Mark had been helping, who was hobbling with the help of a terrified looking man.

Then they were gone, leaving the room empty except for them, the senator, the two terrorists, and the bodyguards… and two of the people who had been manning the cameras. They were steadily doing their jobs, and seemed to be ignoring the shaking of their hands. Good, they could stay. They needed the world to see this and manned cameras would do a much better job of catching everything than the abandoned ones would.

She made her way toward the stage, levitating the stupefied man in front of her. His limbs dangled as if he was a doll, but it wasn’t any more disturbing than the way Erik’s man, the shooter, lay rigid in the air thanks to the full body petrification Erik had caught him with.

Shay had appeared at some point, and Emily realized the bodyguards were asleep in their chairs, heads drooping and guns still floating above. The senator looked terrified, but Sam was whispering to him and the man gave a quick nod before stepping forward.

Emily quickly slipped into position next to Sam, and Shay joined her on her right. On his other side, Mark and Erik lined up. They all looked so regal compared to how Emily felt. She was certain the cameras would be able to pick up on her shaking.

The senator stepped forward, looking directly at the two cameras that were manned. He took a deep breath.

“An attempt was made on my life tonight. Just minutes ago, gunshots rang out across the room, and any one of them might have taken my life if not for the brave actions of America’s heroes. My amazement and wonder at the miraculous feats they were able to perform tonight do not dampen my sense of gratitude.” He turned to look at them, and Emily saw something calculating in his eyes as his gaze traced each of their faces. “Thank you. Thank you for saving me, and thank you for stepping into the light to show our country and the world not only that extraordinary men and women live among us, but that they have the courage to do what is right in the face of men who would bring nothing but terror to us. Millions of faces have watched these events unfold, and I’m sure all of them are eager for the answer to my next question. What should we call you?”

“Merlin,” Sam said, stepping forward. For a moment it sounded like the wizarding epithet that Emily had grown so familiar with instead of her name, and it felt fitting for the moment. The weight of what they had done was beginning to settle over her.

She saw his lips move in a near silent spell and a breeze ruffled his hair and cloak. Emily had to fight to keep a hysterical laugh bubbling up at the sight of his vanity after everything that had just happened. The senator shook his hand, and she knew it was her turn. She took one step forward, regaining her place next to him.

“Lady Amity.” 

This time her hand was the one the senator shook. His was warm and slightly damp, though she knew hers couldn’t be much better.

“Paladin,” Mark said. Another handshake.

“Shade.” They had all badgered Shay to choose something more unique, something a bit further form her name, but she wouldn’t budge.

“Oathkeeper,” Erik said, his voice sounding even more firm and confident than Sam’s had. The senator shook his hand too, then turned back to the cameras.

“This day ushers in a new era for our country, and for the world. For those who wish to harm the free people who call these states home, this is your call to think twice. These five standing behind me might be extraordinary, but I can assure you, even ordinary men and women can stand up for what is good and right. America is a land of heroes.”

All of a sudden the wailing of sirens, which Emily had been hearing distantly during the senator’s speech, seemed to grow louder, and she realized they were out of time. No sooner had she turned to Sam than she head the faints cracks of apparition in the room behind the stage. Both the muggle and wizarding authorities had arrived. Sam caught her eye and nodded, stepping forward next to the senator, who abandoned the spotlight with good grace.

“We are here to stand between those who cannot protect themselves and those who wish them harm. We are the protectors of the innocent, and when the need is greatest, we will be there.”

Those words were the signal, and Emily reached one hand into a pouch on her belt and the other up where the stunned terrorist was still floating. With a whispered word, the portkey yanked her a way, and a second later the senator was left standing alone on the stage.


End file.
